Newsletter April 2, 2020

With the church buildings closed to help minimize spread of the COVID-19 virus, we’re offering many opportunities to pray and worship online.

The best way to stay informed of our online schedule and other resources is to subscribe to our YouTube channel and/or follow us on Facebook — and to read through these e-mail newsletters, which are going out a little more often now that we’re operating 100% online!

Sunday morning worship at 10:30 a.m. – Palm Sunday

We will send out an e-mail at about 10:00 a.m. on Sunday with links and a digital copy of the service bulletin.

Greetings of God’s peace and love to you and your families during this most trying time. As you are aware, because of the COVID-19 pandemic, our building is closed and the staff is working remotely at home, with frequent Zoom meetings, telephone calls, texts and email exchanges to keep our faith community informed and connected as we weather this storm together.

Like many of you who are having to put into place new schedules for your daily lives while working from home, the staff at St. John’s is doing the same. In an effort to provide our staff with a healthy balance of work and personal time while our building is closed, we have set up a revised “office hours” and “days off” schedule as follows:

Office Hours: Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Clergy and staff days off during the work week:

Susan – Monday

Scott – Thursday

Margie – Friday

Peggy – Monday, Friday

All calls, texts and emails sent outside of office hours or during someone’s day off will be returned the next working day, unless it is a pastoral emergency. Be assured that we will be notified immediately of all pastoral emergency messages left on our office voicemail. These messages are directed to the clergy’s cell phones and we will respond as soon as possible.

Thank you for your patience and understanding as we work together to care for and support each other through these difficult days.

Although it will be a Holy Week unlike any other, St. John’s will provide a full schedule of online services. Services for Palm Sunday, Maundy Thursday, Good Friday, Holy Saturday and Easter Sunday will be livestreamed. You may watch them live or any time afterward on our web site, YouTube channel or Facebook page.

Noonday Prayer on Zoom will continue next week, Monday through Friday. We will also offer Tuesday evening Compline, but there will be no Compline on Thursday evening due to the livestreamed Maundy Thursday service. See above for Zoom links for Noonday Prayer and Compline.

Creating a sacred space in your home: A how-to video from Margie and Eden!

While it’s always a good idea to have a quiet place set aside for prayer and meditation, it’s especially helpful right now, when we’re confined to our homes and unable to get to church. Our curate Margie has put together some simple instructions for creating a sacred space at home, and created a how-to video with her daughter Eden.

Ways to connect

Join us for Happy Hour – Friday at 5 p.m.

Pour a beverage of your choice, and join us via Zoom from your couch or kitchen table. All ages are welcome!

Keep us informed of pastoral care needs

Please reach out to our clergy, Susan Pinkerton (rector) and Margie Baker (curate) by confidential e-mail. You may also call us at 860-523-5201 and leave a message in the general voicemail box, in a particular clergy or staff person’s voicemail box, or on our pastoral emergency line if your need is urgent. We are retrieving voicemail messages regularly.

Request healing prayers

Our healing prayer team is on call to pray with and for you. To request prayers for yourself or someone else, e-mail the parish manager, Ellen, with your preferred contact information. She will pass the information on to one of our healing prayer ministers, who will reach out to you. All prayer requests will remain confidential.

The Loaves & Fishes feeding program and the West Hartford Food Pantry are both in need of nonperishable food to help feed our neighbors. Please contact Loaves and Fishes or the West Hartford Food pantry directly for information about what they need and how to drop it off.

Foodshare is continuing to provide neighborhood deliveries of food and supply local food pantries with items. They have an urgent need for additional funds to help them continue their work. Donate to Foodshare online.

Journey Home is working hard to ensure that residents in local shelters are safe and that those who are most vulnerable to COVID-19 are isolated. Donate to Journey Home online.

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A place to discover connections with God and each other

St. John's Church is a vibrant, family-friendly church that gathers for Holy Eucharist each Sunday in our historic building. All are welcome, regardless of background, to come worship and learn more about our Episcopal liturgy, beautiful music, and many opportunities for learning, giving, and growing in community.